London



Dec. 22, 1925 1,566,492

M. MCGINNESS I RAILROAD TRACTION s swfim 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June I;1923 Fig.1.

' Dec. 22, 1925 1,566,492 M. MCGINNESS RAILROAD TRACTION SYSTEM FiledJune '2, 1925 2 sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTO/P McG/hneas Patented Dec. 22,1925.

umrso srares MAXWELL MGGINTTESS, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THERATLGRIP SYNDI- GATE LIMITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

RAILROAD-TRACTION SYSTEM.

Application filed June 7,

To all whom it may concern:

Be known that I, MAXWELLMCGINNESS, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, residing at 2 Gresham Buildings, Basmghall Street, London E. C.2, England, have invented new and useful Improvements Relating toRailroad-Traction Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway traction and particularly two wheels,.wheel mountings, and tracks for railway vehicles and is directed to animproved system of adhesion or grip between railway vehlcle wheels andthe rails on which they run, the

' chief object being to render locomotives not entirely dependent onflat tread friction grip.

A feature of the present invention consists in obtaining what may betermed V-grip or wedge grip between the wheel rims and the rail headsand in making the grip in the nature also of a positive engagementbetween the contacting surfaces. This positive engagement is ensured bya rack and tooth. or equivalent interengagement between the side facesof the rails and the co-operating faces of the flanges on the wheels.Instead of having actual teeth the said faces may be suitably ribbed ornotched to give an equivalent eflect. The teeth ribs or notches may beformed on either or both of the side faces of the rails and on either orJot-h of the wheel flanges but preferably they are formed only on theouter face of each rail and on the outer flange of each wheel.

The toothed ribbed or notched rails may be placed throughout the trackor only where great tractive force is required as at steep gradients.

The wheels having the ribbed notched or toothed flanges for engagingsimilarly formed side faceson the rail or rails may be the usual drivingwheels of the vehicle or be supplementary thereto. -In the case of apair of supplementary wheels they may be lifted away from or presseddown onto the rail to any regulated extent by any suitable means and maybe placed as a pair midway between the front and rear pairs of ordinarywheels in the case of a four wheel base.

The foregoing and other features of the present invention will nowbe'describedmore fully with reference to the accompanying.

drawings in which Fig re 1 ;if. reverses! erotics detail of 1923.Serial, no. 044,024.

a wheel rim and rail head constructed and cooperating in. accordancewith the invention,

Figure 2 is a perspective view-ofthe head of-a piece of the rail shownin section in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section similar to Figure 1 V-grip rack grip wheels asandwhen required. I

Figure 7 1s an end elevation showing somewhat diagrammatically amodified arrangement for obtaining a combined V- grip and rackgripeffect' in accordance with the invention. 7

Referring first more particularly to Figures 1 and 2 itis seen that thebody. of the wheel A has two flanges LB and (lwhich form a wedge shapedchannel or rim so narrow as to exert wedge grip or so-called V-grip onthe railhead D. The head of the rail is preferably shaped with slopingside faces to offer a substantial surface c0'n tact with the internalfaces of the wheel flanges. and rails offers a substantially greatergrip than ordinary fiat treadadhesion. A still greaterv grip is obtainedby providing for a rack and tooth, inter-engagement or its equivalent.For this purpose either or each of the side faces of the rail headistoot-hed. ribbed or otherwise notched or indented as at E to engagecorresponding formations on the cooperating internal faceor faces of'the flange or flanges of thewheel. As shown in Figure 1 the toothed,ribbed or notched outer flange C is preferably detachable to permit ofready replacement when worn away. It is'to be observed that the base ofthe \I-groove formed by (the flanges is narrower than the width oftheflat tread por tionof the r'ail head, so that the combined .Suchwedge-grip between wheels 7 v wedge or V-gripand rack grip-are fully ef-1 we. i F u e a .mile at ri d to allow a certain amount of transversegrammatically at F in Figure 4.

movement of the wheels. This transverse movement may be provided for bymounting the wheels on the two parts of a divided axle the adjacent endsof which are suitably housed in a connecting sleeve as shown dia- Thismounting of the wheel on a divided axle also permits of their beingdriven diiferentially as is especially advantageous in negotiating sharpcurves in the track. Instead of an actually divided axle one wheel mayhave an axle fitting into a sleeve serving as a hollow axle for theother wheel. Alternative ly each wheel can turn freely on ,a single axleand each be driven independently and be free to move axially to allowfor track gauge variations.

The combined V-grip and rack grip wheels may be used as the ordinaryweight bearing wheels of the locomotive in which case provision must bemade as hereinafter described for negotiating points and crossings wherethey occur but preferably these wheels are supplementary to the ordinarydriving wheels and are placed as a pair about midway between the frontand rear pairs of a H four wheel base as shown in Figure 5.

Such wheels may be driven by chain or other driving connection with theordinary driving wheels but are preferably driven independently ordifferentially through diflerential gearing shown diagrammatically at Gand change-speed gearing shown diagrammatically at H by an internalcombustion engine, electric motor or steam power unit showndiagrammatically at J. If a longer wheel base is required two or moresuch wheel assemblies may be arranged on wheels and may be, normallypressed towards the rails'by a spring the effect of which may becontrolled by the engine driver by suitable mechanism. Such mechanismwould enable the degree of grip to be regulated but would not enable thewheels to be raised entirely free from. the rails.

In order to entirely raise the wheels any 7 convenient mea'nsma'y beemployed such for exampl a the means ,shcwn :c ag 'a irat caHy'in'Figm-e6. In this arrangement est axle box K of the axle of the V-grip wheelsis adapted to be raised as and when required by admitting steam orcompressed air to the top of a piston L working in a cylinder M. Thispiston is connected by its rod N to one end of a lever O which ispivoted at P to the frame or carriage of the locomotive and is attachedat its other end to the spring mounting Q, of the axle box K in whichthe axle of the supplementary wheel is housed.

The V-grip rack-grip wheels need be low cred only when great tractiveforce is required and in any event they would be raised when points andcrossings are to be traversed unless the rails of such points on thetrack are suitably cut away to permit passage of both flan'g'es'on eachwheel or unless automatic wheel raising devices at such points areprovided on the track. For example suitably sloping rail sections orramps alongside the track rails and rail points may be provided toengage the inner flanges of the wheels and thereby raise the wheels (asthey roll) sufficiently to bring the peripheries of the outer flangeslevel with the top of the rail heads thus enabling the wheels to travelacross the rails whereupon other ramps allow them to become loweredagain into V-grip engagement. For this purpose the inner flanges of thewheels are prefer- 95 ably deeper than the outer flanges shown in thedrawings, so that even when the wheels are raised until the peripheriesof their outer flanges run level with the top of the rail heads theinner flanges still engage the sides of the rails and keep the wheels inalignment with the track.

Although the foregoing is a description of the preferred form in which acombination of V-grip and rack grip'is obtained,

and the slopes of the rail head faces. Each pair of such angularlydisposed wheels is suitably mounted as in a yoke R independently of theyokes of other pairs relatively to the carriage or frame of thelocomotive. Each of such wheels is driven in any suitable manner theouter wheel being toothed, ribbed or notched on its tread S to engagesimilar formations on the outer face of the rail head, so that in thisconstruction as in the construction already described a combinedwedge-grip and rack grip effect is obtained between wheels and rails.

a ,9; further modified way of bringing into 7 action a combinedwedge-grip andraek- 13O grip effect as and when required is to employwheels with flanges as above described but to vary the size of the railhead at different parts of the track so that on the level the wheel canrun on the flat tread at the base of the V-shaped rim whereas when anincline in the track is to be traversed the head of the rail is toothed,ribbed or notched and so broad as to cause the V-shaped rim of the wheelto ride up on the side faces of the rail and thereby produce the abovedescribed wedge grip and rack grip.

In all cases it will be understood that the teeth, ribs or notches onthe rails do not need to be cut but can beproduced during the rolling ofthe rails at no appreciably greater cost than for the rolling of plainrails.

What I claim is 1. For use in a railroad traction system, a

" locomotive comprising a body, ordinary wheels and a pair of axiallymovable coaxial V-grip rack-grip wheels'located about midway betweenfront and rear pairs of the ordinary wheels.

2. For use in a railroad traction system,- a locomotive comprising abody, ordinary wheels and a pair of V-grip rack-grip wheels locatedabout midway between front and rear pairs of the ordinary wheels andmeans for driving said V-grip wheels diflerentially.

3. In a railroad traction system, the combination with a pair of trackrails each having a head with upwardly converging side faces, the outerone of which is toothed, of a vehicle comprising a body and wheelsthereon engaging with said track rail side faces with a V-grip rack-gripeffect on each rail.

4. In a railroad traction system, the combination with a pair of trackrails each having a head with upwardly converging side faces the outerof which is toothed, of a vehicle comprising a body and wheels there-'on each having a V-grooved rim comprising two flanges the outer ofwhich is toothed on its rail engaging face.

In a railroad traction system, the combination with a pair of trackrails each having a head with upwardly converging side faces the outerof which is toothed, of a vehicle comprising a body and wheels thereondifferentially driven and each having a V-grooved rim comprising twoflanges the outer of which is toothed on its rail engaging face.

6. In a railroad traction system, the com bination with a pair of trackrails each having a head with upwardly converging side faces the outerof which is toothed, of a vehicle comprlsing a body and wheels thereonaxially-movable differentially-driven and outer ofwhich is toothed onits rail engaging face.

8. In a railroad traction system, the combination with a pair of trackrails each having a head with upwardly converging side faces the outerof which is toothed, of a vehicle comprising a body and wheels there oneach having a V-grooved rim comprising two flanges the outer of which istoothed on its rail engaging face and is detachable from the wheel.

9. In a railroad traction system the com- 'bination with a pair of trackrails, each hav ing a head with upwardly converging toothed side faces,of a vehicle comprising a body and wheels thereon each having aV-grooved rim comprising two flanges each of which is toothed on itsrail engaging face.

10. For use in a railroad traction system, a locomotive comprising abody, ordinary track wheels and a pair of axially movable V-grip rackgrip track wheels located about midway between front and rear pairs ofthe ordinary track wheels, a pair of track rails the heads of which haveupwardly converging side faces toothed, notched or ribbed to engage theV-grip rack-grip locomotive track wheels, means for raising said V-griprack-grip wheels upwards from the track rails at will, and means fordriving said V-grip rack-grip wheels independently of the ordinarywheels.

MAXWELL McGINNESS.

